Welcome to Litsy!

This book is all voice and no story but the voice was often good company. Oyler is a very good writer but not much of a novelist; her style is better suited to the essay. Fake Accounts has some compelling things to say about the way social media has wholly reconfigured human subjectivity but it just…drifts. The novel has little architecture and the closing reveal didn‘t carry the kind of complicated moral heft it was seemingly designed to.

This was strange. At times I was so irritated by the protagonist, but she admits we should be. She creates different personas for herself, and lies constantly - perhaps to inhabit the mind of her ex boyfriend. So much about Berlin felt true. Good account of a long millennial

My little book haul today. And my hat, because it matched the colour scheme.

But a careless little bitch who didn‘t know what she was talking about is not as bad as what I actually was: someone who would rather other people think of her as a careless little bitch who didn‘t know what she was talking about than not think of her at all.

I‘m not sure what to say about this one because I‘m not sure what it‘s trying to say. Is it that online spaces are often performative and shallow because people already are that way? Or that these aspects of online life can bleed over into reality and make us be this way? I don‘t know. Plus, it ends bizarrely and abruptly. It just didn‘t quite come together for me.

Whatever one thinks of the plot, the writing is very good. I usually find authors attempts to use, or weave in, digital tools fail, but Oyler has a flair for a self-referential critique of our modern ways through literature. Does this age create more narcissism or simple display it more ruthlessly? I liked the book, but felt a little befuddled at the end, wondering if maybe I didn‘t fully get it? Maybe that was part of the point.

How was this book you ask?? Horrible. The premise seems interesting but this book lacks a solid plot. Unless you have a fascinating interest in the Berlin online dating scene. AVOID this book. RUN fast and far!

Right after the 2016 election, a woman discovers her boyfriend is secretly an online conspiracy theorist. But she misleads also - so whose fakeness is the worse offense? I liked the novel and what it had to say about online performativity. I do get very annoyed when New York writers shit on DC for being boring - begging people to please experience this city beyond Capitol Hill and stop being ignorant. (Rant over!)

This is another great as an #audiobook novel. Rebecca Lowman is a fantastic narrator, and the tone is conversational.

I love it when the title of a novel carries great meaning. What are fake accounts? Fake social media? Falsified stories? Fake tinder profiles? Lying to gain something of value? When is it art and when is it artifice?

This novel has some interesting answers to these questions. Really thoughtful book!

I am still deciding about this book. There were some facets and subplots that lost me and others that gripped me. The self-awareness of the protagonist was both necessary and off putting. Sometimes being puzzled by a book is great and that may the case for this book. I‘m just not sure.

Ugh. I can‘t believe I read this whole novel. If the point of this book was to expose the narcissistic qualities of millennials who feel the need to post their every thought, then this book does so by tediously slogging through every thought that goes through this woman‘s mind. I decided I knew how it would end, but then thought, “It can‘t be that predictable!” And then I forced my way to the end and it was! It was that predictable! Ugh.

#BookReport 22/20

I can‘t remember when was the last time I only read one book in a week. I hope to do better next week!

The Guardian states in a review of this book: ‘This is a self-involved novel, for self-involved readers in a self-involved age.‘ That is so true, and it‘s funny as well as tiresome. Starting out strong with a lot of social media, and the women‘s march folllowing Trump‘s inauguration. Then however the sharp observations make place for random meetings in Berlin that don‘t add much to the story- because the narrator is ultimately just self-involved

I have had way too little time to read this week, mostly because my daughter asked if I wanted to watch #Lost with her - a series which I loved but have watched twice already. Yet I couldn‘t refuse 😀🤷🏻‍♀️so we‘re binging again, only taking a break to watch the #FriendsReunion ❤️

The pic shows one of my favorite scenes #TeamKateAndSawyerAlways😍

#WeeklyForecast 21/21

The last week of the month and I have some catching up to do with the challenges. So I hope to finish two more prompts for #ReadingAsia2021 as well as #Booked2021. The tagged one I bought solely on @Megabooks review, can‘t wait to find out what it‘s about!

The opening chapters of this book really sucked me in as the main character gets drawn down the rabbit hole of discovering her boyfriend is a secret right-wing internet troll. For some reason I started to lose momentum once I was about 1/4 through, and then my library loan expired. Even the second time around I couldn‘t muster the interest to finish this book and am calling it DNF as my second loan ends. Oh well 🤷🏽‍♀️

Good grief, this book is exhausting. Throwing in the towel at 23%.

The reviews for this book are divisive. I was hooked for the first 20%. Then it slowly started to change into something else. Not terrible, just different than what I expected. The disconnection from the real you and the online persona that everyone else thinks is you. There is some brilliant commentary about relationships, sex, and power dynamics. And some drab run-ons of unfiltered thought.

... Objects online are less sexy than they appear

Did an episode on the new Lauren Oyler book Fake Accounts. I liked it, Peter didn't. We discuss our reasoning and argue about the value of autofiction. We also touch on whether or not aliens built the pyramids.

https://open.spotify.com/show/6A6hXZ7eaOG7BtHOSJpCTI?si=7Uo1v8VzT9ugqtDNapOvxg

Hugely disappointing book: there may have been a fine novel in here, but a complete and total lack of editing kept it hidden. If this book was indeed edited at all, that editor should be thrown into a volcano.

New book alert 🚨

This cover is just mesmerizing to me...

This novel explores what is real and what is fake. It starts with a couple of Americans meeting in Berlin. He fed her false information and lies, yet she is intrigued enough on find him in NYC when he moves there. On the eve of the 2016 election, she finds out he‘s a popular online conspiracy theorist. She ends up back in Berlin descending into lies and more lies. It is an interesting exploration of fakery in the online age. Great debut! 4.25⭐️⬇️

Best. Audiobook. Day. Ever!! Two anticipated preorders on left; two hot library new releases on right. #luckylistener

Solely based on narrators, it‘s likely one of the top two. Ahhhh!! So psyched!!!!